Use Your Accent

Almost exactly 10 years ago, Joe and I travelled to Rovaniemi, Finland with the goal of seeing a uniquely Lapland event: reindeer races!! Well, just a few hours before take-off, we found out they had been cancelled due to lack of snow. With great disappointment, we went anyways. I made Joe promise we would try again someday. I figured ‘someday’ would be after retirement…but…then we found ourselves living on the right continent once again. Here we go! ‘Someday’ is now!

Having no desire to relive our Rovaniemi days, we headed instead to Luosto, Finland for the fourth of five face-offs in the Poro Cup reindeer racing series. The kids were champion travelers during the seemingly unending journey and Dad was a champion driver. It was no easy feat to get here. (revisit another awful drive through the snow, here)

Other than asking “will they fly?” and “where’s Rudolph?”, the kids couldn’t care less about the reindeer. They LOVED the snow though! They were absolutely delighted to climb, sled, climb, slide, sled, climb, throw, sled, pile, stomp, climb, and sled. The snow was incredible, indeed. Did I mention the sledding?! And the climbing?!?!

I, on the other hand, was totally verklempt with the races. Like…bona fide emotional about it. You know, you just spend so many years wanting to experience something, and work so hard to get there. The act of actually arriving is just a dream come true. Dreams look different to different folks…mine just so happen to have cloven hooves and ski harnesses. It’s weird, I know. But I’m not ashamed.

Awaiting their time at the gate, the reindeer stood like docile house pets. But when they were harnessed and walking to the starting line, the frenzy was pavlovian. There is a reindeer here, but you can’t see it because there are four grown men trying to keep it under control.

And they’re off!

Sometimes skiers got separated from their reindeer. Unlike Il Palio, a reindeer without a skier is disqualified, regardless of their finishing status.

It might be very hard to see, but this is the finish line of the championship race and the lead reindeer has no skier. Skiers have to weigh at least 60kg, so this one did have a lighter load! But he didn’t get to take home the trophy.

One of the coolest things is that there was a race every five minutes. So we could walk away to eat or sled and not feel like we were missing anything. There was always space along the track and we had plenty of elbow room (you know you’re getting old when you appreciate this!) At one point in time, Joe said, “there’s  only like 120 people here.” This was certainly not the tourist event of the season, but that’s another reason why it was totally amazing. Most places we went, we were the only family with kids. Despite the chaos of three little ones, everyone was so kind and helpful to us. In fact, after a long explanation in Finnish about I don’t even know what, the first thing the emcee said in English was, “If you are not from these parts, you are welcome in Luosto.” And he wasn’t just saying that. I have been on a first-name basis with the entire Luosto tourist bureau for many months now, just in order to get us here. They were genuinely interested in helping us experience their culture.

So here ends my love letter to Luosto and so begins a billet doux for the four most amazing people in my life. I know the splendor of this weekend was lost on three of you, but have no fear…I will spend the rest of your life reminding you of the time we travelled 3069km so you could go sledding. 😉 And to Joe, thank you for always entertaining my crazy ideas and travel wishes. You earned your stripes with this one!